Solid minerals 0.63% contribution to GDP abysmal — NEITI

-As stakeholders advocate more women inclusion in the solid minerals sector

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s current drive to transition from oil and gas-driven economy to one driven more by solid minerals have decried the sector’s 0.63% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution, saying it is abysmal.

Orji Ogbonnaiya Orji, the executive secretary/CEO of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) stated this in his opening remarks at the 2024 Multi Stakeholders Roundtable on Enhancing Inclusiveness and Addressing Inequalities in Nigeria’s Mining Sector which began in Abuja Thursday.

The roundtable is a collaboration between Global Rights, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) with support from the Ford Foundation.

According to Orji ” the NEITI report also showed some improvement in the solid minerals sector’s contribution to GDP – from 0.26% in 2019 to 0.63% in 2021. The figure is still very abysmal considering the potential of the solid minerals sector to act as a catalyst for economic growth and development of our country.

While urging participants to focus on actionable steps to enhance inclusiveness: Build capacities, strengthen institutional frameworks, deepen community engagement, boost public awareness, and education, and beneficiate and add value to our mineral resources, by leveraging technology in implementing progressive policy reforms.

Read also: Nigeria loses $1.4bn to unremitted gas royalties, flare penalties – NEITI

The NEITI boss informed that the latest independent industry audit report conducted by NEITI in the oil, gas and mining sector disclosed that employment opportunities for women in the industry in Nigeria are currently too low to the global average.

“From the Report, 56 out of 70 companies covered had a total of 19,171 employees. 15,639 (82%) were men while 3,532 (18%) of the employees were women. Similarly, out of 2,325 top or high-level positions, women representation was less than 100”

“In efforts to address gender equity and inclusion, NEITI working with our global development partners, 57 member countries in our organization, the media and civil society are committed to advancing fiscal justice and gender equity debate in extractive industries with a specific focus on enhancing women’s participation in natural resource governance. To this end, NEITI has set up a Women/Gender Desk to coordinate our activities designed to put women and children issues in public consciousness.”

He noted that as the global demand for critical minerals rises, driven by clean energy needs and security concerns, they anticipate more mining activities.

“However, we cannot overlook the social and environmental impacts on host communities especially the escalation of insecurity and displacement of rural communities and their livelihoods. We must balance economic growth with environmental stewardship, community welfare, and equitable distribution of our natural resources. ”

In her welcome remarks, Abiodun Baiyewu, Global Rights executive director, stated that “the meeting which is the seventh in a path of dialogue, starting back in 2016 is aimed at strengthening and increasing engagement between civil society actors and the government on solid mineral governance in Nigeria. This year, the dialogue is focusing on enhancing inclusiveness and addressing inequalities in Nigeria’s mining sector”.

“With more than 40 minerals in commercial quantities strewn across our country, paradoxically, as we all know, our extractive sector contributes less than 1% of our national GDP. More than 80% of the sector, in particular, artisanal mining is unregulated.

The mining host community activists stated “We live in an environment and social economic consequences of lax oversight and, whilst still, our children will pay for them. While these minerals pave the part of economic greatness for countries to which they are illegally ferried, mining host communities inordinately bear the burden of the resource cost with seemingly little or no benefits from the wealth that is harnessed in the vicinity. And all across our countries, this story is told in Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara, Jigawa State, Ebony, Gombe, Osun and Ogun states respectively.

She noted that “Across Nigeria, communities are bearing inordinate consequences for unregulated mining in Niger State, and especially with the recent disasters in Niger State. Now, we are at the end of oil, and Nigeria needs to get to the program and realize that we are at the end of oil, and our economy is dwindling at the same time. This is crisis mode in Nigeria.”

Our target at the end of this dialogue, she said “Is that we will all come to some mutual agreements on how best civil society should engage NEITI, the Ministry of Solid Minerals, the Ministry of Mines and Steel, and the National Assembly to promote transparency and accountability in the sector, and on the way forward to promoting the rights of mining host communities”.

In his remarks Hon. Gaza Gbefwi, Chairman, of the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals Development invited the whole mining sector for a public hearing on two critical pieces of legislation we are working on coming up on the 17th of July 2024

“In our view, one of the greatest problems we’re having is the fact that we have a law that is guiding the sector that is not sensitive to the plight of the people who own these mineral resources. For instance, if you look at Section 22 of the existing Act, it talks about self-reporting, self-accountability”.

“You will agree with me that the present law is very vague and not definite at all. There’s an investigation I’m carrying out, and one of the most prosperous minerals, which is lithium, is the one that went into a community development agreement with a particular community. In five years, what constituted the community development agreement and was signed up was that in the first year, two boreholes were to be created and given to the community, second year, one block of five classrooms, third year, 7.5 million be to be given for the renovation of the traditional father’s palace and In the fourth year, a clinic is to be provided with 10 million naira and 11 million naira given subsequently”

“And that is why in this law we are agitating that 5% should be given to the community so that it can be given to an association that will bring about the development of this community. Because if God gave those mineral resources there, God does not make a mistake, and he knows why he put it there. (4:46) So I need to call on the people in this space.”